I was nervous getting this done bc I heard mixed things about it. I really needed to get this done, this is the only test I feel that can help me figure out why my even when my lpr is under control, I have trouble initiating a swallow. I will say this test wasn’t fun but I thought it would be helpful to post a positive story in case anyone else out there is considering getting a manometry, and is nervous bc of bad stories. The cable was thicker than I thought which made me nervous. The interesting thing was that I didn’t feel the cable in my esophagus, just in my nose and throat. I couldn’t swallow at certain times bc it would mess up the test. So before swallowing something I couldn’t swallow for about 30 seconds. It was tough at times to not swallow bc the cable in my throat made me want to, but I was determined to get through this test to find answers. I accidentally swallowed a few times and apologized, but my nurse was kind about it. I had a sore throat for the rest of the day. For a few hours it felt like the cable was still in my throat lol. I had a bit of a stuffy nostril towards the end of the day but it mostly went away the next morning. My sore throat completely went away 2 days later.

I think I had a good experience bc of my nurse. She was incredibly kind and I was honest w her about me being nervous. She told me what she was doing and said how I was doing a good job during the test. I feel like she felt my pain, especially since I’m only 22 dealing w this. I have to wait a few weeks to get results which sucks but I’m glad I at least did the test. Thanks for taking the time to read this, I’d love to hear your thoughts, even if you’ve already had this test done

If anyone is curious about the test more in detail, here’s how it went:

In order to numb my throat she put lidocaine up my nose w a syringe. It’s a gel like consistency. I had to sniff the lidocaine multiple times for it to get to the back of my throat. Then she put the cable up into my nose then kept going down. I guess when it was trying to enter my esophagus my nurse said she felt resistance. Not sure if it was bc my throat was tensing up or what but I had to swallow multiple times for the cable to keep going down. One part of the test was laying down, on a slight incline and taking separate sips of a saline from a syringe. Also taking sips of water from a straw. Then chugging some water. When sitting up I did the same. I also ate some applesauce. She was going to give me bread but ended up not giving it to me bc I think she saw how I couldn’t swallow non liquid consistencies. She said she had enough info so it was fine.